The present invention relates to an in-line insert folder system for folding printed inserts and serially delivering them to an applicator for placement directly onto consumer packs, such as cigarette packs, or onto the outer wrap for the packs prior to placement around the packs.
Particularly in the case of cigarette packs, there is an increasing need for the packs to include printed inserts containing information about the cigarettes and/or serving as a medium for advertising purposes. In other instances, such inserts may take the form of a coupon providing eligibility for the consumer to participate in prize drawings and the like. In the case of cigarette packs which are usually provided with an outer wrap of transparent film, printed inserts may be positioned between the pack and the outer wrap whereby the insert can be seen from the outside when the pack and outer wrap are still intact. When positioned between the pack and outer wrap the insert may be placed directly onto the pack and subsequently wrapped, or the insert may be initially placed onto the flexible outer wrap before the pack is wrapped with such material.
Currently many inserts are pre-folded and delivered to cigarette packs via stacks of individual pre-folded inserts. Disadvantages of this approach involve the overall expense and difficulty of making pre-folded bobbins or stacks of individual printed insert material. Moreover, individual inserts are difficult to handle at cigarette packaging machines that operate at extremely high production speeds in that the inserts tend to jam quite easily, and therefore require intensive operator intervention for feeding them to applicators that deliver and apply the inserts to the cigarette packs.